Thinking Allowed

Before the Windrush - Laurie Taylor talks to John Belchem, Professor of History at the University of Liverpool, about his study of race relations in 20th century Liverpool. Long before the arrival of the Empire Windrush after the Second World War, the city was already a teeming mix of different nationalities and races. Black Liverpudlians pioneered mixed marriages and parentage but they also experienced rejection and discrimination. Nisha Katona, city born resident and trustee of National Museums Liverpool, joins the debate.Also, Bjorn Andersen, a sociologist at the University of Gothenburg, discusses the phenomenon of the late modern 'hipster', the young bohemian of the cosmopolitan city.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

IVF - it's 35 years years since the initial success of a form of technologically assisted human reproduction which has led to the birth of 5 million 'miracle' babies. Laurie Taylor talks to Sarah Franklin, Professor in Sociology at the University of Cambridge, about her study into the meaning and impact of IVF. Has the creation of new biological relatives transformed our notion of kinship? They're joined by Henrietta Moore, Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge.Also, the male space of the 'bookies'. Betting on horses and dogs has long been seen as a male pastime and the betting shop as a 'man's world'. Rebecca Cassidy, Professor of Social Anthropology at Goldsmiths at the University of London, asks why this should be, interviewing both workers and customers in London betting shops.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Offshoring - the economy of secrecy. The concealment of wealth in tax havens is part of public debate, but John Urry, Professor of Sociology at Lancaster University, argues that offshore worlds now also involve relations of work, pleasure, energy and security. He talks to Laurie Taylor about new patterns of power which pose huge challenges to democratic government. Also, Dr Aliakbar Jafari, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Marketing at the University of Strathclyde, discusses his research on Iranian women's use of make up, as a form of escape and self expression. He's joined by Dr Ziba Mir Hosseini, Professorial Research Associate at the Centre of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law at the School for Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Chinese women & the resurgence of gender inequality. Laurie Taylor talks to Leta Hong Fincher, about 'Leftover Women', her study of the pressures facing Modern Chinese women who are often locked out of social equality, property rights, and legal protection from domestic abuse.Also, 'smokestack nostalgia' - the meaning of post-industrial imagery. Tim Stangleman, Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent, questions the continuing desire to reflect back and find value in our industrial past.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism - similarities and differences. Comparisons of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim sentiment are strikingly absent in British accounts of race and racism. Laurie Taylor talks to Nasar Meer, Reader in Comparative Social Policy at Strathclyde University, about a new study which attempts to remedy this omission. They're joined by Rumy Hasan, Senior Lecturer at the Sussex Centre for Migration Research at the University of Sussex. Also, the sociology of 'sleep'. How does sleep fit into our wired awake world? Catherine Coveney, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Warwick, explores the sleeping experiences & strategies of shift workers and students.Producer: Torquil MacLeod.

'Illicit' dance in India. Laurie Taylor talks to Anna Morcom, Senior Lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London, about her extensive research into marginalised dancers in contemporary South Asia. From bar dancers to transgender erotic performers, she has chronicled their relationship with 'legitimate' performing arts; their struggles against stigma and the ways in which post colonial nation building has excluded these 'non elite' carriers of culture. Also, can war ever be a force for good? The historian, Ian Morris, argues that war, as well as provoking countless deaths & horrors, has also, in the very long term, allowed us to create peaceful societies.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

The rise & fall of the working class: Laurie Taylor talks to Selina Todd, social historian at St Hilda's College, Oxford, about her sweeping study of ordinary British people between 1910-2010. Rooting her analysis in first person accounts from factory workers, servants and housewives, she reveals a hidden history full of the unexpected: How many of us know that cinema audiences once shook their fists at Winston Churchill? Also, US sociologist, Yasemin Besen-Cassino, discusses her research on 'baristas', the preparers of coffee across the urban world. She finds a group of affluent young people who'll work for poor wages if they're associated with a 'cool' brand.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

The winner of Thinking Allowed's first Ethnography award, in association with the British Sociological Association.Laurie Taylor and a team of esteemed academics - Professor Beverley Skeggs, Professor Dick Hobbs, Professor Henrietta Moore and Dr Louise Westmarland - set themselves the task of finding the study that has made the most significant contribution to ethnography over the past year. In the past, ethnographic studies have cast light on hidden or misunderstood worlds, from the urban poor in 1930s Chicago to the mods and rockers in British seaside towns in the 1950s. This year they considered submissions of startling range, colour and diversity, in the process learning much about the struggles of the war wounded 'amputees' of Sierra Leone; the ties between mothers and daughters on a working class housing estate in South Wales; the hedonistic excess of young holidaymakers in Ibiza; and the dreams and desires of young women in hostess bars in Cambodia. After much passionate debate, finally the winner can be revealed.Laurie Taylor presents a programme about the winning entry which, in the judges' view, has made the most significant contribution to ethnography, the in-depth analysis of the everyday life of a culture or sub culture.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

The Ethnography award 'short list': Thinking Allowed, in association with the British Sociological Association, presents a special programme devoted to the academic research which has been short listed for our new annual award for a study that has made a significant contribution to ethnography, the in-depth analysis of the everyday life of a culture or sub culture. Laurie Taylor is joined by three of the judges: Professor Beverley Skeggs, Professor Dick Hobbs and Dr Louise Westmarland.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Gardens of the British Working Class - the historian, Margaret Willes, considers the remarkable feats of cultivation by the working class in Britain, even if the land they planted and loved was not their own: From lush gardens nurtured outside crumbling workers' cottages to 'green' miracles achieved in blackened yards. In doing so, she reveals the ingenious ways in which determined workers transformed drab surroundings. She's joined by Lisa Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Leeds Metropolitan University, who has explored the ways in which struggles over classed and gendered tastes are played out in our gardens.Also, 'Why England Fails At Football' - a sociological account of our international 'shame' from Anthony King, Professor of Sociology at the University of ExeterProducer: Torquil Macleod.